Joseph Henson, from the university’s Diabetes Research Unit, said: “These studies provide preliminary evidence that sedentary behaviour may be a more effective way to target the prevention of Type 2 diabetes, rather than just solely focusing on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.”

Their report was published on Wednesday in the journal Diabetologia.

Current Department of Health exercise guidelines recommend people exercise moderately or harder - which means building up a sweat - for at least 30 minutes a day, five times a week.

In 2011 these guidelines were updated to state that sedentary time “is bad for your health”. However, as yet they do not lay down specific guidelines on how frequently or for how long people should get up and move around.